Laboratory Experiments on Ion Heating Under Conditions Similar to the Auroral Magnetosphere

过去几年的大量研究工作大大澄清了人们对磁层等离子体物理学的理解。这些进展将通过三种研究方法的共同努力来实现：现场观测、理论/计算努力和相关等离子体物理的实验室模拟。加州大学欧文分校的这项工作以实验室模拟为中心；欧文的工作重点是他们以出色的时间和空间分辨率研究等离子体及其离子分布函数的能力，从而能够仔细研究在实验者控制下的静态和射频波场的离子响应。这笔赠款将继续进行实验室研究，研究可能有助于形成磁层等离子体的机制、可能在极地磁层中产生离子二次曲线分布的射频加热机制、射频和准静态电场机制的组合以及可能导致离子二次曲线的带电粒子束的形成。总体而言，目的是研究电离层向磁层提供等离子体的过程。现在人们认为，电离层是磁层的主要贡献者。

Considerable research effort in the past few years has clarified substantially the understanding of magnetospheric plasma physics. These advances to be made through combined efforts of three research approaches: in situ observations, theoretical/computational efforts, and laboratory simulations of relevant plasma physics. The work at the University of California at Irvine centers on laboratory simulations; the Irvine effort centers on their ability to study plasmas and their ion distribution functions with excellent temporal and spatial resolution, thereby allowing careful study of ion responses to static and radio frequency wave fields which are under the experimenter's control. This grant will continue a laboratory study of mechanisms which could contribute to the formation of the magnetospheric plasma, radio frequency heating mechanisms which could create ion conic distributions in the polar magnetosphere, combined radio frequency and quasi-static field mechanisms, and charged particle beam formation which could lead to ion conics. Overall, the aim is to study processes by which the ionosphere can supply plasma to the magnetosphere. It is now believed that the ionosphere is a major contributor to the magnetosphere.